Hearthstone's New Formats Will Balance Decks For New Players

Hearthstone will introduce new Standard and Wild game formats to provide a more balanced game for new players.

After two years Hearthstone remains an impressively fun card game, as long-time players can attest. However the experience isn't quite the same for newcomers, who are getting crushed by advanced decks before they can even learn all the rules. Thankfully Blizzard is introducing new game formats that should allow for more balanced play. Standard format games will use decks of the most recent card types, while Wild format allows for decks from any expansion you'd like.

So let's say you're a new player still coming to grips with Hearthstone's systems. You'll want to stick with Standard games, which use a combination of Basic, Classic, and the most recent card types. That creates a certain baseline of balanced cards while still giving room for players to experiment with the latest releases. Standard format will be available in Friendly Challenges, Casual Play, and Ranked Play.

Once you have a strong card collection, you can turn to Wild format. Wild games allow players to construct decks from every Hearthstone card type, so all players will know what they're getting into. Wild format will even have its own rankings, so you can try to achieve Legend in both Ranked Play modes if you choose. That being said, you can only earn season rewards in your highest rank, so it might pay to be selective.

When Blizzard launches Hearthstone's formats later this year, Standard games will include Basic, Classic, Blackrock Mountain, Grand Tournament, League of Explorers, and the Spring 2016 expansion cards. Once the new calendar year starts, older card types will be cycled out to allow for new expansions. Cards from older expansions and adventures will no longer be available for purchase in the shop - if you want them afterwards, you'll have to craft them with Arcane Dust. On the plus side, cards that are currently uncraftable will be unlocked as their card type is phased out. Adventures you've already purchased will remain available. Finally, Blizzard will increase the total number of decks from 9 to 18.

While this might make it harder to grab some of those legendary cards you hoped for, Blizzard's move should make Hearthstone more accessible for new players without sacrificing the experience of early adopters. That's a good move in the long run, and should have us constructing new Hearthstone decks for years to come.